"I don't know if I'm seeing the 10/10" - Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares his take on superhit Homestead playoff race

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently shared his take on this week's Homestead playoff race which Tyler Reddick won with a sensational last-corner pass. Reddick's move, along with several other incidents and storylines meant that Homestead became one of the most-talked-about and popular races of the season.

This was reflected in the viewership numbers, with 2.34 million viewers watching the race as viewership went up by 4% compared to last year.

However, Dale Jr., even though he didn't see the race live, didn't think it was a special race. He said on the latest episode of the "Dale Jr. Download" podcast,

"I was at the Commanders game, didn't see it live. I came home and see all this feedback, see the clips. I was like, 'I'mma watch this race with all of that information.' I rewatched the race, it was good. I don't know if I'm seeing the 10/10, it was good. I mean it had all the hangs that I would've expected, it was the race I would've expected to happen at Homestead. Did y'all see something in this race that you don't see at Homestead or hadn't seen at Homestead before? Aside from the pass in turn 3 and 4 in the very last lap" [4:30].

Earnhardt remarked that the first two rounds of the playoffs were considered "very awkward" and clunky by many because of the racetracks in the round and the performance of the playoff drivers.

He claimed that those rounds didn't lead to the "desired euphoria" that the fans were hoping for.

Dale Jr. added,

"And then you go to Homestead and you go, 'Aaa, they're all up there yeah! This is it!' That's maybe the reaction."

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. expects NASCAR to produce Homestead-like races every week

Further talking about the reception of the Homestead race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke about a "balance" in the difficulty of the tracks being chosen for the playoffs. Dale Jr. opined that NASCAR set up the first two rounds with difficult and odd tracks which were challenging with different packages.

All those factors "muddled the water a little bit," as the playoff drivers didn't shine as they were expected to.

"Maybe that's not hitting the target in terms of how if you're an industry, if you're in control, you're running the sport, do you want to see the playoff drivers in scenarios where they can excel and battle among themselves at the top of the field in each week and each round as opposed to giving them the Rubiks cube which is impossible to solve in Round 1 and 2. Maybe there's a balance of what we're looking for,"[6:45].

However, Dale Earnhardt Jr. added that when he watched the Homestead race, he felt like he was watching "a pure NASCAR oval motorsport," which was good, solid, and what he expected.

And while he was thrilled with the race, with the ending, and shared in everyone's excitement, Dale Jr. also said he expected all of those things every week, which he believes to be attainable.